6.24.2020

trawl caught dolphinfish (mahi-mahi)

watercolor (11" x 14")
This fish was caught within an area designated as a marine national monument in 2016.  The canyons in the monument: Oceanographer, Gilbert, and Lydonia were named after the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey ships that conducted surveys of the area between 1930 - 1932. At the time, they used a navigation technique called Radio-Acoustic-Ranging (RAR), which involved tossing TNT over the side of the boat and using hydrophones to listen and time the ensuing sound waves from the explosions. Using this method, they created a map of the undersea canyons that knife into Georges Bank at the continental shelf edge, 130 miles off of the coast of Massachusetts.